Airport

I wonder why people get upset and rave and rant when a train or plane gets delayed. (if you have a connecting flight then I can understand the anxiety)

Or else a railway station or an airport is a nice place to observe people, their movement and their mannerisms.
Just look around you and you can see a sea of faces. Each one in their own world.
If you can ignore the most common irritant factor (the cell phone) then its an art to observe people.

I traveled from Mumbai Airport to Cochin recently and found it rather interesting. This young man looks oblivious to all that’s happening around him, thanks to the music that he is enjoying.

Then here is this guy who kept checking this monitor every five minutes, must be desperate for some information. Could he be a scientist? But we cannot classify people from their hairstyle, can we?

Meanwhile here was this staff being super efficient (as is required at a bustling place like this)

It is interesting to see how people approach the body search platform. Some step on to the platform with the attitude of “why the hell do they want to search me”






Gone are the days when the pilot could walk in through a private door, run across the tarmac, hop up the steps, jump into his cockpit seat and start fiddling with all the switches and knobs (Frank Sinatra style) Now they too have to go through the routine, like a regular passenger (and their bags too get scanned)

Kids are a different story. They are amused by the whole episode (and the guy who inspects them try to put them at ease by talking to them in a friendly way)

Once in the aircraft, people get restless and is almost on the verge of asking “why are we not taking off?”

They don’t realize that once we were "pushed back" we were taxied to the take off side lane, waiting for that Indian Airlines (Express) plane to land.

Once that has landed, there is another Indigo aircraft waiting in line to take off .

It is only then that your pilot takes you to the start point of the take off tarmac.

It is no mean feat that a flight takes off (or lands) every 3.5 minutes at the Mumbai airport (I timed it) You should be thankful to the guys at the control tower for managing it so well. I mean reading Arthur Hailey’s “Airport” is one thing and to see it being actually carried out without a flaw is another thing.

It is amusing to see the airhostess going through the motion of showing you how to inflate a rubber dinghy or operate the oxygen mask. Can’t blame them as they have to repeat the same drill on every flight (as it is mandatory as per the safety rules)

Take off is one thing which brings different expressions on the passengers. Some cling on to the hand rest with eyes closed and a short prayer on their lips, while others just relax and take out their reading material and start reading.

Once you are airborne people relax and either settle down to have a nice snooze or catch up with their reading…….

while the staff go about their usual work of distributing food…..(I found the staff quite efficient)

As for me, I prefer looking out of the window to catch up with some wonderful scenes and wonder if the Wright brothers got to see the same things that I see today from high up above……..